Way back in the Lost and Found of HCC #4, I ran a photo of Lassiter Hoyle’s hot rod under the title “Amalgam” because it was such a collection of disparate parts. The 381-cu.in. four-cylinder walking-beam engine came from a Roamer-Duesenberg, as did the front sheetmetal, grille and transmission. He mounted all that to a 1912 Regal Underslung chassis with 1917 Dodge axles and supercharged the engine with a Graham blower. Lassiter said he drove it on the streets around Culver City, California from when he built it in 1949 to when he sold it in 1953 or 1954 and had only heard rumors about where it went after that.

Rummaging through my archives, I found that Lassiter sent me several pics of the unfinished hot rod, starting with the above pic of him bringing the parts home.

Imagine how much it would cost to build such a hot rod nowadays. This is why I was born in the wrong decade.